What is it that keeps you playing games even after all these years? At what point did you realise that gaming was for you? What are the factors that you enjoy most about gaming?
Do you think youll ever stop?

Personally I like nothing better than to lose myself in a game and the escapism they povide is exactly what Im looking for after a hard day. Not only that but also the buzz from completing a game or solving that nightmare puzzle and feeling extremely smug about it

I've been a gamer as long as I remember having a computer. I remember being completely consumed by the old game Dinky Doo on the C64 and later by Giana sisters.

I game because I feel like it. Watching TV is good at times but you don't get to have your say in what happens, just sit back and watch which is fine if you're tired. But gaming means you get to be slightly more active without having to go actually excersice. Gaming allows me to have a challenge at completing something while having fun at trying to complete it. There are times when games get a bit too hard for me though at which point I either give up or it becomes an obsession to complete the game.

At any rate. I guess it's all about having something interesting and fun to do to while away the time, to feel that in a world where gravity is a tough negotiator, weather sucks and school is trying you can always relax with a game and know that it won't bore you to death and if it does you can always turn it off. (I want an off switch for one of my teachers once in a while)

Oh. I forgot to mention when I started gaming, which I can only guess. 1976 if not before... My father was the first comuter science grad from KSU, so computers have been part of my life as long as I can remember. Gaming just as long.

Games are a fun distraction from the real world. You get to do things that are impossible, cost alot of money, would get you arrested, or are afraid to do in real life.

Flying a spitfire in the battle of briton, racing around in a 100K+ sports car, commanding napoleons or Hitlers army, hunting down treasure in some deep dungeon. Some of the puzzle games make you think and keep those brain cells alive.

That and the fact that I dont go out as much as I used to and physical fitness isnt my thing

I game cause, after maybe a stressing day, if i have little time, it's night or in other situation in which i'm at home, i can virtually escape from the real world and have fun in other worlds. It's a challenge against myself.

I've to say also that i have never played that much new games ( i have a pc but no pc games... ), a part from little time spent with old consoles, mame and other old computers, i play only good old amiga games.

In the beginning:
My grandfather was an early micro-computers and game consoles enthousiast; he had a couple of old PC's running the first M$ DOSses, a Colecovision, another console that I think was called the Gamepak (does that exist?) and another micro with a cassette drive.
So my first gaming experiences where in his attic; I remember being fascinated by games like BigTop or Karateka on the PC and some others on his consoles...

Some years laters:
My mother, who was the real commanding power in the house, never liked TV. She still thinks that it is a tool to make you even more stupid than you already are. The result was quite obvious: not a damn TV in the house. It used to piss me off, but now that I grew up I'm very thankful to that!
Instead my my parents bought my an A500 and a Gameboy, and then an A1200 when the 500 decided it was time to retire.
I have to add that my mommy always liked video games; we played together Dune and Pirates! (among others) for hours. She was my very own counselor...

The result of all this? Now I am fucking addicted! And things are worst since I've discovered The Holy Path Of Emulation!

In 1979/1980 (I was 5) and my dad got hold of a Texas Instruments TI99/4a now I was IMPRESSED to say the least, we played a game called scramble (i think, i'll have to find out!).

Anyway that was me hooked, he later swapped the 4a for an Atari 2600 which just cemented my passion.. Later when I was about 10 he swapped the 4a for an Acorn Electron with a plus1 expansion and loads of games.

I later had C64/Spectrum etc.. but when I went round my GF's her dad had an Amiga (1989) I was well impressed and for christmas 1990 I finally got hold af an A500

Things progressed from there, having a 1200 until 2000 (When I got my first PC!), PSX etc..

Originally posted by Drake1009 And then there are the people who say that games only make people violent. I for one am not violent and anyone saying something different can come over here and I'll introduce a 2 by 4 to their head

I played Syndicate, Wolfenstein 3D , GTA III, Zombie Apocalypse, Cannon Fodder, Tekken IV, Carmageddon, the Alien Breed series, Flashback, Pirates!, and many other bloodbathish games in my life.
And I still faint seing my own blood.

I have been playing computer games since i was about 4, my brother had a zx spectrum, which i played my first ever games on.
My friend later got a sega master system, then he got a mega drive. Another friend had a C64, which i thought was much better than the sega consoles. A new friend brought a new console, a NES. In 1992 i got an Amiga 600 (w00t!) which kicked every computer i had played on into the gutter.
Then my cousin got an A1200, that was cool. My brother progressed to a PC in about 1994, but didn't have many games, just auto CAD programs for his job.
Friends went on to get sega saturn's/playstations/N64 and PC's, but i kept the Amiga, i had loads of games (cracked) which made it a lot better than anything my friends had (like 3 or so games).
Finally i got a playstation to play all the new games, and later a PC to get on the net. I mostly play the PC/Amiga for games, the playstation is just sitting pretty much redundant.